


the light in your soul or on the horizon

by WishingTree



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, I'll add the characters as they come, artsy kara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-06 21:30:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 8,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11044710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishingTree/pseuds/WishingTree
Summary: For Kara, art was a whole extra form of communication she learned when she came to Earth.A collection of artistic Kara oneshots, through the eyes of others





	1. Kara

**Author's Note:**

> guess who's got two thumbs and wrote this a literal year ago
> 
>  
> 
> Small collection of oneshots, going for each chapter from a different character’s perspective and some different artistic medium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> going off the season 1 floor plan/setup/design of kara’s apartment

Alex let herself into Kara’s apartment, closing the door behind her and shrugging off her leather jacket, shaking her hands out. Though it had been sunny, it was an unusually cold day in National City, and she didn’t want to admit the chill was starting to get to her. “Kara?” she called out, looking around for her sister and wondering why she hadn’t popped up to greet her yet.

There were paint supplies strewn across the table and part of the floor, so unless Kara had zoomed off for some emergency Supergirl-ing, she should still be home. Alex tossed her jacket over a chair and pulled her phone out of her pocket, moving around the island counter with the intention of making herself a cup of coffee as she waited, but startled in surprise as she rounded the corner.

Kara was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her back against the dishwasher, paint-smeared and glaring at the cabinet door in front of her.

“...Kara?” Alex ventured cautiously. Her sister ignored her, munching furiously on a bowl of cereal, and Alex edged closer. Kara was wearing a familiar paint-splattered t-shirt and an old pair of gym shorts, streaks of paint staining her bare arms. Alex could see paint on her temples as well, indicating Kara had been rubbing at them, and her hair was tied back in a messy bun.

Alex kept approaching slowly until she was at her side, crouching down and watching her sister’s face carefully. Kara’s eyes were narrowed at the cabinet door, and Alex glanced at it quickly, hoping to see what had captured her attention. Finding nothing, she looked back at Kara, then turned again and rose up enough to peek her head over the countertop. Sure enough, set up right across from them was Kara’s biggest easel, a partially painted canvas sitting on it. It would be right in her line of sight if she had x-ray vision.

Settling back down on the ground, Alex crossed her legs and sat facing Kara. “Kara,” she began to repeat gently, humming quietly in between words to fill in the silence until Kara noticed her.

“It’s missing something,” Kara finally mumbled around a mouthful of cereal, not taking her eyes away from where she was x-raying through the counter.

Alex let out a small sigh of relief and smiled at her. “Just how long have you been sitting here?"

Kara kept chewing, lifting her cereal bowl in Alex’s direction. “Since three bowls ago."

“Okay, but I know how fast you can eat when you want to, that means nothing," Alex chuckled and leaned back on her hands, knocking her knee against Kara’s leg.

Kara hummed in acknowledgement, still not moving her gaze. “What time is it?"

Checking her watch, Alex said, “5:08.”

Kara blinked, finally lowering her spoon. “Oh. Almost an hour, apparently."

“Can I ask why you’ve been sitting on your kitchen floor for an hour?”

“I just can’t seem to get it right,” Kara huffed irritably, blowing a piece of hair out of her face and gesturing at the painting that was blocked from Alex’s vision. “It’s not… I can’t… ugh!” Kara blew out a breath and made an aggravated noise that shifted to exasperation.

“Alright,” Alex said, standing up and pulling on Kara’s arm, “That’s enough of that. Up we get!"

Kara made a sound of protest, but got to her feet readily enough, shoveling the last few bites of cereal into her mouth and depositing the bowl into the sink. Alex put one hand on her back and one on her arm, leading her towards the canvas. They stopped in front of it, and Alex eyed it critically, noting that it had a lot more orange than she was accustomed to seeing in Kara’s paintings. She looked at her out of the corner of her eye in concern, but went with what she knew. Kara would come to her if she wanted to talk about something.

“So why don’t you try explaining it to me?” Alex put her hands on her hips, squinting critically at the canvas. “Remember? Talking me through my incompetence would help you figure it out.”

Kara rolled her eyes, returning her grin with one of her own. “You’re not bad at it, you’re just too… technical.”

“I know, I know, it’s not my thing. Anyways, what do you think about using that one?” Alex pointed randomly to one of her mixed paints as Kara picked up her palette and took off the cover.

Kara scrunched her nose up. “I don’t think that would look too good, the colors would get all… get all…” She trailed off, eyes sharpening with a different type of focus, and Alex nodded in satisfaction, slowly backing away. Kara was quiet now, occasionally mumbling to herself, and Alex knew she’d gotten past her art block.

Wandering back towards the kitchen, Alex picked up the cereal box Kara had abandoned on the floor. After appraising the brightly colored design on the front, she shrugged to herself and moved to the cupboard to get a bowl.

Cereal poured and spoon in hand, she settled herself on the couch and turned on the TV. She looked back at Kara once more, seeing her absorbed in her painting before turning and putting on the documentary playing on the history channel. The volume was low enough that she could hear Kara puttering around, mumbling to herself as she worked, and Alex sat back on the couch, occasionally turning back to watch the way Kara's colors started to match the setting sun.

 


	2. J'onn

J’onn stretched his legs out in front of him, back against the wall as he sat alone on the roof of one of the DEO buildings. The night sky was calm above him, stars shining brightly on the cloudless night, and though he could hear the roar of the city, they were far enough into the desert that it was muffled and easily ignored.

He would come up here sometimes, to sit alone and take a moment to remember his planet. With so much open sky above him, it felt like there might be enough room to breathe through the weight that came with being the last.

He heard the swish of a cape, and didn’t have to turn his head to know that Kara had just landed very gently beside him, touching down one boot at a time.

“Hello, Supergirl.”

“Hi, J’onn.” Kara sat down on the ledge, tilting her head up towards the sky. She pulled the material of her cape over her lap, fingering it idly as she watched the stars.

She seemed content to just sit there, and J’onn was happy to sit with her in companionable silence, slowly working his way through a pack of Oreos, phasing his hand through the plastic to retrieve them soundlessly without interrupting the stillness of the night. It was cold, probably too cold for a human to comfortably sit like they were doing, but they were both letting their human guises down for just a moment, feeling alien and separated from the rest of the planet.

“I look up, sometimes. At where Krypton used to be. Would be. Can’t see that far, but I know where it would be if I could.” Kara shifted, face screwing up as she pressed her lips together, “Well… what’s left, anyways.”

J’onn offered her a cookie. “You can see all that?”

Kara nodded, squinting her eyes in a way that told him she was trying to push down the memories of her home planet. He wore the same expression far too often.

“Alex told me the stories about the Earth constellations when I first got here, and I told her about the ones we had on Krypton.”

They lapsed into silence once more, and J’onn smiled at the mental image of the Danvers sisters, lying together on the roof and telling each other stories from their planets.

Kara finished her cookie, brushing off her fingers. “Alex explained to me that some of the stars humans could see in the sky weren’t actually there. The time it took for the starlight to reach Earth meant that most of them had died ages ago. We were only looking at the ghosts of the dead, echoes of explosions.

“I had nightmares for a while after that. I know that wasn’t what she meant to happen. But I would dream that I could hear the echoes of my peoples’ screams, taking time to travel the distance from Krypton. That the sound of my world dying would be the only thing left of them in this universe.”

J’onn bowed his head, and Kara took a shaky breath, mumbling, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to get that dark on you.”

“There’s no need to apologize, Kara.” He looked up at the sky, mirroring her position. "That is not the only thing left of them."

Some time later, Kara spoke again.

“J’onn?”

He glanced over, but Kara wasn’t looking at him, her face still turned towards the sky. The moonlight shining down gave her an almost haunted look, soft glow dancing across her face.

“Tell me about Mars?” He knew from the tentative tone of her voice that it was more of an offer than a request, and whether he decided to talk or not to say another word, she would understand. 

Of all the people on this planet, she would understand.

Slowly, he relaxed against the wall behind them, letting himself really remember the home he used to have for the first time in years.

“There were two moons,” he started, motioning slowly at Earth’s moon so far above them, but that he could touch if he so desired. “They were smaller in the skyline, not appearing so big as Earth’s. Sometimes they would eclipse each other. It happened quickly, but if you were watching for it, it was an amazing sight.” The horizon shimmered, darkness fading away in his eyes for a moment as he remembered his own sky.

“There were mountains. Towering across the horizon, in almost every direction.” He kept his arm raised, absently tracing their shapes against the backdrop of the human sky. “The Xan’xie peaks were these massive rock towers, the tallest points on the surface of the planet. They were said to have been built by our ancestors, who were so powerful they would have burned up the whole universe. Though we did not know what purpose they were meant to serve originally, the peaks became symbols for peace, reminders for all of Mars. We were not to follow in their footsteps.

“There were volcanoes too, though not many were active. The biggest was Ascraeus Mons,” he felt himself smile at the memory. “K’hym and Ta’nia would ask for the fairytale about the Martian prophet who lived inside of it for 8 days and 8 nights.” He paused, remembering how they would trip over themselves to try and complete the story before each other. “It was their favorite.” Emotion started welling up in his throat, and he could feel the words he had though long-forgotten right on the tip of his tongue.

Kara was still sitting next to him, gaze focused on the stars but listening intently, and his chest loosened.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to describe the place he hadn’t seen in over a century. The color of the sky, the light, how the air felt different. The ease of communicating with others in a language his tongue was designed for. How it felt to go _home_ every day, the home he felt in his bones, a different feeling from the home he was building here.

Caught up in his own thoughts, he was surprised when he looked over to see Kara with a sketchbook resting on her lap. She was totally absorbed, scribbling busily over the page, and there was a set of chalk pastels next to her, though she was mostly ignoring them. He hadn’t seen the messenger bag she had undoubtedly pulled those out of, but now it was lying on the roof behind her, flap open and exposing a messy collection of what he guessed were art supplies.

Though the sketch was incomplete, he could clearly recognize the outline of mountains, and a skyline with two moons, exactly what he had just been describing. His home world. There were absent smudges of orange and red around the border of the page, and if he looked carefully he could spot the smears on her fingertips, even in the dark.

It was not quite his planet, but it was the closest thing he’d seen in years.

Kara looked up as he fell silent, face twisted uncertainly when she saw him looking at her. She tilted it towards him, only the slight purse of her lips betraying her nerves.

“I’m going to… there’ll be color,” she whispered shyly, tapping the chalk pastels next to her, “I’m going to do it proper with them as soon as I get a good sketch down.” Unsure, she watched as he examined the paper. “If – if you want it? I’ve never – seen Mars, but I visited Dalnon when I was younger, and they have similar atmospheric compositions, so – I –”

She shrank down in her cape, looking small for a moment in a way he rarely ever saw when she was Supergirl.

“I – Kara. I would be honored,” he told her sincerely, eyes wide with disbelief.

“I know it won’t be exactly right, but I’ll do my best,” she told him, eyes heavy with the hopes of a dead world.

J'onn tried to think of something to say, but instead could only yearn for the ease of communication that came with a psychic bond. “Thank you.” He tilted his head down, blinking away the beginnings of tears, and Kara scooted closer to him, pressing her arm into his without looking up.

“Will you tell it to me?” she asked softly, her head bowed over her sketchbook as she rubbed at the chalk with one finger, “The story about the Martian prophet?”

He placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded, and for the first time in hundreds of years, he had a captive audience for the tale from his home planet.

The night was quiet and calm and cool, and J’onn J’onzz was not alone.

 


	3. Vasquez

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let’s say Vasquez is still in the season one DEO base and they totally visit

Supergirl scanned the screens quickly, eyes darting back and forth. “No, it had these – horns, sort of? Bumpy things on top of his face? They were grey, or maybe like a dark blue or something – ”

Vasquez furrowed her brow and tried to modify the search parameters, but the search still came up empty, DEO monitors blinking bright red letters.

“Guess we’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way for now.” Vasquez leaned her head against her fist as she pulled up the manual database with her other hand, preparing to start going through them one by one.

“No, no, no, no… ” Supergirl kept shaking her head, arms crossed as Vasquez sent prisoner mug shots up across the monitors.

Vasquez sighed, still clicking as she tried to think of a better way to work around the catalogue search database failing them. “This is taking too long."

“Wait, I have an idea!" Supergirl disappeared in a burst of wind, and Vasquez blinked in surprise, turning her head to see the superhero had vanished.

Shrugging, she turned back to the monitors just as there was another burst of wind behind her, this time managing to blow some of her short hair loose and into her eyes.

Supergirl was back, sitting on the desk next to the touchscreens and sketching determinedly in a large notebook Vasquez had the sneaking suspicion belonged to Agent Danvers. Supergirl muttered something to herself as she flipped a page and started her sketching over, confirming her suspicions when the action revealed some chemical formula scribbles that were definitely in Alex’s handwriting.

After a couple more false starts, Supergirl finally nodded with satisfaction. “How’s that?” She asked, turning the notebook around and holding it out for Vasquez to take.

“This is amazing,” Vasquez said, staring at the incredibly detailed pencil drawing Supergirl had just handed her with wide eyes.

“Do you think it’s enough to get a match if you scan it through the database?”

Vasquez blinked a couple of times, pulling her gaze away from the life-like portrait of what was by all accounts a horrifying alien. “Absolutely, ma’am, this is much better quality than some images we’ve scanned through.” Vasquez rolled her chair to the other end of the desk, tapping the commands in on the screen and laying the notebook facedown to scan it.

“Vasquez, we’re friends! If you don’t stop calling me ma’am, I’m going to start calling you Susan.” Supergirl hopped to her feet and followed her over, “You can call me Kara, I know you’ve heard my name. Alex says it all the time here.”

Vasquez narrowed her eyes at her, trying to size up the seriousness of the threat, and Supergirl narrowed her eyes right back.

“She’ll do it, you know,” Alex informed her unhelpfully as she wandered by, pausing to fold her arms and lean against the railing separating the computer station from the rest of the command center. “She’s annoying like that.”

Supergirl beamed, seemingly taking pride in the statement, and Vasquez rolled her eyes when the superhero turned back to her expectantly. “Okay, okay,” she spun her chair around when the scan beeped behind her, notifying her that it was complete. “But only when we’re not running an op. There’s a match on the drawing, m – _Kara_.”

Kara clapped her hands excitedly and came around to stand next to her. “Alright, what do we got?”

Alex leaned to the side to get a look as well, but paused, “Wait – is that my notebook? Kara!”

“There’s an alien to catch, gotta go, love you, bye!” Kara smacked a quick kiss on Alex’s cheek and waved at Vasquez before jumping easily over the railing and tearing off down one of the hallways.

Alex watched her go with an exasperated look on her face, and Vasquez tried to suppress her grin for the sake of professionalism.

“Do you want to yell at her over the comms before I give her the information she ran off without?”

Alex considered it for a moment before sighing and shaking her head, holding a hand out for her notebook. “Thanks, it’s fine. She used to draw all over my stuff, I’m used to opening notebooks and finding the most random things in them. We’ll just add this to the collection.”

Vasquez passed it to her and grinned before refitting her comm in her ear and spinning back around to face the computers, already opening a channel to Kara.

 


	4. Astra

Astra’s steps faltered, and she felt Agent Danvers stop with her, probably in case she decided to try and escape. The kryptonite cuffs locked around her wrists effectively dulled her senses, rendering her annoyingly impaired, but she could still see her niece from the other side of the command center.

Kara was sitting in one of the glass offices, feet drawn up on the couch with some kind of sketchpad resting across her knees. She was wearing soft clothes, brightly colored and wholly unsuitable for any sort of combat, with her human glasses resting on top of her head.

She was swaying happily as she drew, occupied with her task, and Astra blinked.

“She does not know I am here?” she questioned, knowing they were well within range of Kara’s super hearing. She was staring through the window at her niece with far too much abandon, but with only Agent Danvers at her side, she did not feel it necessary to hide the yearning in her voice.

The agent was watching Kara as well, her face apathetic save for the slight crease of her brow, betraying the signs of her internal debate. After a moment’s deliberation, she sighed and quickly cast her eyes towards the ceiling before looking back.

“She blew out her powers earlier today. A Daxamite ambush.”

Astra hissed instinctively at the mention, knowing the exact gang of aliens from Fort Rozz who would be responsible something like that. “That means she is effectively human, yes?” Astra had observed this phenomenon during her surveillance, but the concept was still worrying, especially in regards to her niece.

“Yeah, but once she recharges for a bit, she’ll be back to normal.”

Astra watched her, concerned, and Agent Danvers regarded her with caution, evidently deciding to let her have this glimpse of Kara. She set her feet firmly on the ground, standing at her side and looking towards Kara as well, tilting her head appraisingly.

“I offered to have an agent drive her home, but she said she’d just sit in my office and wait for – and catch a ride later.”

Astra nodded absently but filed the slight hesitation away with the rest of her observations about Agent Danvers. Kara was singing under her breath as she drew, the slightest furrow to her brow as she mumbled the words to herself. Agent Danvers stood quietly at her side, not urging her to continue moving towards the interrogation rooms that were their usual destination, though she could feel the disapproval coming from the other agents standing guard a respectable distance away.

“What is she doing?” Astra asked. With her limited senses, she couldn’t catch more than some shuffling feet from across the room, no matter how much she strained her hearing. Agent Danvers stared straight ahead, jaw working as she seemed to debate how much more to share.

“There’s a song she sings, in Kryptonian, whenever she tries to draw space,” she finally said. “Star maps, constellations…” Agent Danvers waved a hand and bobbed her head awkwardly, but Astra knew what she was describing.

“The Star Song.” Astra ducked her head and made a motion as if to push her hair back, but her movements were halted by the kryptonite cuffs still locking her wrists together. Agent Danvers was watching her, curiosity barely hidden in her eyes.

“I taught it to her when she was barely more than a baby, much too young to remember all the complex names of the stars in the sky. But she was so curious, always so eager to learn. I made up a song for her, to make it easier.”

Agent Danvers opened her mouth again, an analytical look making itself known on her face, but an agent shuffled his feet behind them, pointedly clearing his throat. “Ma’am, they’re expecting us soon.”

“Right.” Agent Danvers stood taller and nodded decisively, face wiped clean. “Let’s go,” she put her hand on Astra’s arm again, pulling her forward, and after one last glance at her niece, Astra complied.

 

Later, when she was returned to her cell after hours of human operatives picking through the knowledge about her husband’s faction that she parted with willingly, there was a small stack of papers resting on her bench. Astra waited for Agent Danvers to deposit her in the cell and remove the handcuffs, watching the other humans with their guns pointed at her. When they left, the door sealing shut behind them, she finally moved to the pile, picking it up carefully.

She examined the first sheet of paper, eyebrows rising as she slowly shuffled through them to see pieces of an almost complete star map from the view on Krypton. Some of the stars were drawn in the cartoonish way children had been fond of back on Krypton, but as far as she could tell the map was as accurate as any of the Guild ones she had seen in the past. She tried to layer them across her arms, but when that didn’t afford a clear picture she stepped back and started arranging the papers across the floor.

They couldn’t have come from anyone but Kara, and yet she hadn’t been aware of her presence earlier today. Agent Danvers had been with her the whole time, with no opportunity to alert her to her presence, and a map this size would have taken time, even with super speed. Astra’s brows knit together, and then her jaw slackened as she sat back on her heels to look at the assembled star map on her cell floor. Her niece had been already planning to draw her this, regardless of how she cooperated with the humans.

Near the bottom of the pile was an otherwise blank piece of paper that read _For you, a glimpse of home_ scrawled in Kryptonian, characters only the slightest bit shaky. Astra traced the inked words with one finger, taking in the image of a sky she hadn’t seen in 36 years, and would never see again.

“Thank you, Little One,” Astra whispered into the empty room, no louder than the ever-present hum that accompanied the kryptonite emitters surrounding her cell.

 


	5. Lucy

Lucy walked into her office, exhaustion weighing heavily on her limbs, and her steps faltered as she spotted a wide flat package sitting in the middle of her desk, loosely wrapped in plain brown parcel paper with a haphazard Christmas bow stuck to it.

The ultimately non-threatening parcel was confusing, and Lucy poked at it with a finger, knowing it had to have gone through numerous security checks to get inside the DEO, much less straight onto her desk. She had reviewed all the security procedures herself when she had been given command, and there shouldn’t be any way to sneak such an obvious delivery in.

She scanned it carefully, relaxing when she saw a small message in Kara’s handwriting scrawled along the bottom. _To Lucy Lane, super awesome director of the DEO_.

Interested, she moved around her desk and picked it up. Balancing it in her hands for a moment, she sized it up before laying it flat on her desk again. Her fingers scrabbled along the edge to split the tape, and she opened it to reveal a watercolor painting. A breathtakingly beautiful watercolor painting, depicting a small park with a children’s jungle gym and slide, and a swing set off to the side.

She stared at it with wide eyes. It was like any of the countless parks scattered around the suburbs of the world, except she recognized this one.

“Hey Lucy, would you – oh.” Alex rounded into her office, but stopped with one hand still on the doorframe when she saw Lucy preoccupied with the painting. She moved as if to leave, but Lucy lifted her head and waved, telling her it was okay to come inside.

Alex stepped forwards cautiously, but then smiled softly when she caught a proper glimpse of the painting. “It’s from Kara,” she said unnecessarily.

Lucy looked up from where her fingers where tracing the edge of the canvas. “I told her about this a couple weeks ago,” she whispered, and Alex inched closer to hear her better. “There was a park near – well, not near home, we moved around way too much for that, but it was in Park City. Yes, I hear the irony. We lived there for like, a year and a half maybe? It was small, out of the way, and usually empty. Probably because it only had like half a functional jungle gym and one swing. But yeah, Lois used to take me. Before…

“We used to be closer, before my mom died. When my dad was just in one of his moods, or everything got too much, she would take me here.” Lucy smiled despite herself, starting to get lost in the memory. “Sometimes we’d spend hours there. Pack some sandwiches, eat them under the slide.” Lucy rested her finger on the little painted slide in the upper corner. “I loved that park.”

Alex leaned forward, and Lucy tilted the canvas so she could see it better. “This looks just like it." Her vision blurred, and Lucy grimaced halfheartedly, trying to stop the tears from falling.

The painting really did look just like it, as best as Lucy could remember. Come to think of it, Lucy wouldn’t put it past Kara to have flown all the way to Park City in search of this park, just to get the details right.

“Dammit Danvers, do not let me cry at work,” Lucy said warningly, though the threatening tone of her voice was belied by her bringing up a hand to scrub roughly at her eyes.

“Oh, okay, umm… uh, well – I…”

Alex twisted her fingers together in a way Lucy had seen Kara do when she was feeling anxious. “Her English wasn’t the best when she first arrived on Earth, and it really didn’t help with her – getting assimilated, and blending in and all that. For her, art was the best way she found to connect with us. And I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it, before or since. It was how she communicated, especially before she had full control of her powers. She was afraid to touch any of us, it took her forever to feel comfortable to hold my hand.”

Alex swept a hand towards the painting in front of Lucy. “But art supplies are replaceable. We’d just stock up on everything, we were definitely Midvale art store’s best customers. Pencils, crayons, paints, pastels, you name it. And Kara loved it all, never got tired of it.

“So anyways, there was one time – I used to play lacrosse in high school, but when Kara arrived my parents were really busy, they couldn’t come to as many games. I mean, they didn’t come to many before, but they tried. Then they were working late, and staying home with Kara, getting her used to earth stuff.

“It was the finals, the first year my school had gotten there in like 20 years or something like that? It was a big game, but my dad had a business trip and my mom had to stay home with Kara. So I went to the game, and no one was watching me. But when I got home, Kara was locked in our room? Barely let me get a change of clothes, just chucked my pyjamas out the door before locking it again, so fast I didn’t even see her. She wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, and my mom was busy on a conference call or something, she said as long as she was okay then to let Kara deal with it alone.

“So it was strange? And I was worried, so I just sat outside our room and tried to talk to her. It didn’t really work, but like an hour later she comes barreling out and basically shoves this drawing into my hands.” Alex took a breath, and Lucy swore she could see tears glimmering in her eyes.

“She’d snuck out the window and gotten herself to school, and hid in a tree to watch the match. Drawn me this absolutely beautiful picture of the moment we scored the winning goal. It made it seem like – well, like someone was proud of me after all. Someone cared.” She sniffed once and swiped a hand across her face, muttering, “Well, that got away from me.”

There was silence for a moment, and then Lucy turned to Alex disbelievingly, “ _That’s_ what you chose to make me feel less emotional? Why did you think that would work!?” She swiped at her eyes again, careful not to get anything on the painting.

“I was going for a distraction! I panicked!”

Lucy shoved her. “That was a terrible plan, god. Some secret agent you are, if that’s the best you can come up with on the spot.”

“Well,” Alex wiped away a tear and waved her hand through the air once before dropping it back to her side. “At least now we’ll both be embarrassing ourselves?”

Lucy gave a watery laugh, sitting down on the couch and laying the painting gently across her knees. Alex followed and settled next to her, pressing in close and letting Lucy rest her cheek against her shoulder, and Lucy sat quietly as she studied the painted image of the memory she might have forgotten.


	6. Winn

Winn smiled, standing with his hands in his pockets as he took in the excitement in the air. It was CatCo’s 15-year anniversary, and Winn didn’t know who had pulled it off – it was probably Kara – but Ms. Grant had somehow been convinced to hold a large outdoor picnic party type thing for all of CatCo’s employees and their families.

There were carnival games, bouncy castles, a whole row of barbeques preparing lunch. Tables and chairs were scattered around the open grassy area of National City’s biggest park, with balloons and ice cream stands and a live band in the middle of it all.

Never let it be said that Cat Grant did anything small.

Winn spotted James and Kara by the ice cream stand and laughed when Kara waved a cone energetically at him, almost hitting James in the face and then apologizing profusely.

The sun was shining, children were laughing, and there was going to be free food. Winn sighed happily. It was a good day.

He rubbed his hands together, trying to decide what to do first, and then started when he realized Cat Grant was standing right next to him.

“This is why CatCo doesn’t do parties with children,” Ms. Grant wrinkled her nose, observing the scene with disdain, “The whiny brats don’t know when to stop yammering away like monkeys.”

Winn opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, unsure if she actually wanted a response from him.

“Surely your voice still works? I’ve heard you conversing with Keira plenty of times, Wilf.”

“Oh! Oh, right, yes, it – it does. I – I think the kids are just… having some fun! You know, can’t blame ‘em for getting a little excited.” Ms. Grant showed no reaction, and Winn scrambled for a safer topic of conversation. “Is – is Carter around?” Winn winced at how high-pitched his voice was, trying to stop stuttering. “I’m sure he’s having a blast, this is awesome!”

“My beautiful boy has gone to get us snow cones. He wanted to surprise me with the flavor.”

“That’s great! I was meaning to check out the snow cones, actually, I haven’t had one in years.”

At that moment, Kara came bouncing towards them, her sundress swishing gracefully around her legs and shoving the oversized sleeves of her cardigan up to her elbows, and Winn breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hello, Ms. Grant! How are you finding everything so far? The decorators did a wonderful job, I’ve almost gone over the entire park."

“Yes, their work does seem satisfactory. I trust you’re keeping an eye out for any… disruptions, either with the arrangements or with the children.” Ms. Grant pursed her lips. “First one that throws a temper tantrum is out.”

“Oh, Ms. Grant, I don’t think that…” Kara trailed off, and Winn followed her line of sight to the growing group of children gathering around the face painting station. They were getting increasingly restless, and even with his limited knowledge on how to handle children Winn knew that the way their faces were crumpling meant that there was soon to be a very unhappy bunch on their hands.

“Where’s the face painting guy?” Winn asked, his voice rising in concern as his fingers fidgeted in front of him. Kara made a concerned noise as well, poking at her tablet.

“It looks like whoever was supposed to man the face painting is a no show,” Kara looked around, her brow wrinkled in concern, and Ms. Grant sighed.

“Keira, call the event planners and yell at them for me. And get somebody to pack that station up. I know learning how to deal with disappointment is an important life skill, but taunting a group of 5-year-olds is edging much too close to cruelty for my taste.”

“Wha – pack up the face painting?”

“Well, unless you can find me a person to step in and start slathering paint on children’s faces to prevent the slew of temper tantrums I know is coming, that is exactly what’s going to happen.”

Kara’s eyes lit up, and she shoved her tablet at Winn, not noticing the way he fumbled to catch it against his chest. “I – I got it!”

“Uh, you – what? Kara?” By the time Winn had a firm grasp on the tablet and was standing up properly again, Kara was gone. Winn shared a confused look with Ms. Grant, and then spotted the swish of Kara’s ponytail moving through the crowd.

Kara hurried over to the face painting station, rolling up her sleeves and greeting the restless group of children with a bright smile, saying something Winn couldn’t hear.

“What is she…?”

He watched as she managed to settle them with a few cheerful words, only taking a few seconds to figure out how to get into the large locked chest of face painting supplies. The guilty look that flashed across her face told Winn she had probably broken the lock, but she quickly stuffed it inside the trunk and started pulling out supplies. The kids all started crowding around and she sorted them out quickly, somehow managing to get them to line up properly without a single complaint.

Winn put the hand that wasn’t holding the tablet in his pocket and smiled at the sight. When he turned around, Ms. Grant had disappeared somewhere, and he shrugged at finding himself alone. Along with the distant sounds of music, laughter was ringing across the grass and the smell of the barbecues was really starting to spread, spurring on his grumbling stomach. Absentmindedly glancing around to see if James was still nearby, Winn ambled forwards and tried to decide if he should get a hot dog first or go ask Kara to paint the Supergirl symbol across his face.


	7. Alex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ignoring the season two fuckery with their lazy ass storyline

Alex stood at the counter, leaning forward on her elbows to see what kind of snacks Kara had stashed. Behind her, Kara was having a silent debate with herself, probably thinking she was being subtle but projecting so loudly Alex would notice it in her sleep.

She waited patiently, knowing Kara would speak when she was ready. Giving up on the food displayed on the counter, Alex moved around the center island and started going through the cupboards. She raised an eyebrow when she found a bag of trail mix, potentially the only snack in this apartment that even remotely resembled something that wasn’t junk food. It was probably Lucy’s.

Across the room Kara had started to pace back and forth, and Alex grabbed the trail mix, moving to get a bowl and turning to set them both on the counter, raising an eyebrow at her sister.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yes, I’m just…” she flapped a hand at Alex and didn’t slow in her pacing, the movement slightly too fast to feel human.

Thankfully, this wasn’t Kara nervous because something was wrong, so Alex was content to wait her out. She dumped some of the trail mix into the bowl, setting the bag aside and starting to sort through it as Kara kept rambling.

“I don’t know how to – ehh, um, well…”

Kara waved her hands around, continuing to mumble and stutter uncertainly as she paced back and forth in front of the counter.

She eventually trailed off into silence, looking at Alex helplessly and imploring her to understand. “I don’t know how to say this. It’s hard to explain.”

“Okay,” Alex shrugged, still sorting through the bowl of trail mix in front of her as she watched Kara out of the corner of her eye. “Tell me anyways?”

Kara looped her arm easily around Alex’s waist, dropping her head onto her shoulder. Alex tilted her head to look at her but otherwise didn’t move, continuing to munch on the handful of dried cranberries she had collected.

“Maybe – maybe I should just show you,” Kara shifted before lifting her head to look up at Alex.

Alex nodded agreeably, pushing off the counter and trailing after her as she flitted off towards her bedroom. She emerged again before Alex could make it halfway across the room, clutching a pale blue expanding file folder to her chest. She was chewing on her lip as she came closer, and Alex waited patiently as she hesitated some more, moving to sit down on the couch.

Kara dropped down next to her, and after sputtering through a few more words just shoved the folder into Alex’s hands. Alex glanced at it and then eyed Kara carefully, making sure Kara really wanted her to see what was inside. Kara exhaled and nodded, nudging Alex's arm, and Alex opened the folder.

“Oh,” Alex said quietly, reaching out a hand but stopping just short of touching the surface of the paper.

Next to her, Kara fidgeted nervously, but Alex couldn’t take her eyes away from the drawings in front of her. There was the front of their house in Midvale, Alex herself in the upstairs window and her parents standing with their arms around each other by the door. Eliza and Jeremiah, seen from the backseat of a car. Jeremiah laughing. Jeremiah and Eliza, cuddled together on the porch swing as they watched the stars. Alex, asleep on the couch between her parents. Jeremiah making breakfast, wearing his science apron. Jeremiah and Alex tangled up in Christmas lights, while Eliza sat on the floor and laughed at them.

She kept flipping, seeing snapshots of her family, whole in a way they hadn’t been since she was a teenager. Kara hadn’t drawn herself in any of them, but her presence was just as pronounced. Some of the papers were old, yellowed with age, and the lines were shakier, less sure. The colouring was less steady, betraying the fact that they must have been done by a less experienced hand. Kara had been saving these for a long time.

“I’m sorry,” Kara whispered. “I planned to give them to you, but it just never seemed like the right time.

“I know that, when my parents died… you’re the one who told me to try drawing them, so I could see them, remember them. And I know that you have real pictures of Jeremiah, but…” Kara shrugged, pulling a pillow into her lap and fidgeting with the edge of it.

“Ever since I landed here… this is how I saw my home. In drawings. I thought maybe it could be a way for you to see it too.”

Alex lifted her hand up to hastily wipe away the tears beginning to drip down her cheeks. “Kara,” she breathed out, touched. “Come here,” she gestured with her arm, and Kara immediately ducked and snuggled into her side.

“Thank you,” Alex whispered into her hair, slowly moving the pages, and Kara nestled into her, squeezed her arm around Alex's waist.

 


	8. Cat

“Send a message to the incompetent fool in publishing behind this mess.” Cat stomped towards the bar set up on the side of her office and shoveled some M&M’s into a glass. “I will be dealing this for at least the next week, and there are many other better uses of my time than damage control.”

She popped a piece of the candy in her mouth and stopped moving, watching Kara putting the notes into her tablet and purposely taking a deep breath to calm herself. She let her eyes close for a moment, but the quiet only lasted a second before they snapped open again.

“And _what_ is that smell?”

Kara froze, lifting her head to subtly inhale, and then she winced. “It’s… probably turpentine, Ms. Grant,” Kara said meekly, holding her tablet close to her chest.

“And why does my office smell like turpentine?”

“The, um – I brought in a – an oil painting?” Kara pointed at the wrapped canvas leaning against her desk, fidgeting as Cat continued to watch her with a raised eyebrow.

“Why?”

Kara ducked her head, adjusting her glasses. “Oil paint, it – I only finished the painting a couple days ago, and the solvent smells, I didn’t realize –”

Cat waved a hand impatiently to make her stop mumbling. “No, why did you bring an oil painting here?”

“Oh!” Kara’s expression brightened marginally before going back to hesitant, and Cat marveled at how her assistant thought she could ever hide anything with such a damn expressive face. “You asked me to find a painting or something to replace the one that got wrecked in the – ahem, Supergirl fight in the hall last month. Which – she did apologize for. Anyways, I know finding art for CatCo generally just means to go scout out the shops and stuff, provide you with a list of approved possibilities that would fit in with the existing décor, but…” Kara shrugged her shoulders, splaying out her arms. “I had some time on my hands, and I figured why not? So I painted one myself.”

Kara smiled nervously, faltering when she saw Cat examining her carefully. “Do – do you want me to get you the list of paintings I found at the art galleries from surrounding cities? I have it right here…” Kara ducked her head and started tapping nervously at the screen of her tablet again.

Cat rolled her eyes. “Bring it in, Keira, let’s see this artwork of yours.”

Kara nodded and hurried out of the doors, dropping her tablet on her desk and picking up the wrapped painting.

She turned back and waffled uncertainly in the threshold for a moment before coming in and leaning it against the couch, gently peeling off packing tape and removing the plastic cover surrounding it. Kara hesitated, glancing nervously over shoulder once before quickly pulling it off and stepping back.

It was a painting of a simple cityscape, National City. Cat recognized the view from one of the bigger streets in the financial district, one she knew Kara liked to cut through to reach her favorite sushi restaurant. The sun was setting, and Cat realized the top of CatCo Tower was visible in the corner, standing tall over the city.

It was brighter than most of the other paintings CatCo had hanging in tasteful places, which usually followed a more neutral color scheme, made subdued to blend in with the furniture. But as much as it would outshine them in brilliance, Cat knew this painting would fit perfectly.

“Keira,” Cat focused on the painting in front of her, one arm crossed while the other played with her glass of M&M’s. “A painting of this quality could sell at some of the most exclusive art galleries in the city.”

“Oh Ms. Grant, I don’t think that –”

“I have been to my share of gallery openings and art expositions. You know this, Keira, you were there for half of them and you planned the others. A piece like this could easily sell for their standard prices, maybe more depending on how pretentious the customers are.”

“Oh, I –” Out of the corner of her eye, Cat saw Kara fidget self-consciously, “My art is more of a… personal thing. I don’t want to share it for – for money, or fame, or, or…” she trailed off, looking at the painting but her eyes focused on something else. “I’m glad that people can appreciate it, can… get something from it. Sometimes it helps them, makes them…” Kara trailed off, jaw working but no words coming out. Cat knew that look, and knew it didn’t mean she had nothing to say, but that she had too much to say and couldn’t figure out how to form the words.

“Hm,” Cat looked at her one last time before turning back to her desk. “Address this month’s decorating budget to yourself, along with the last 3 months, CatCo is purchasing this painting. Have it hung in the reception area.”

“I – really?” Kara squeaked out, staring at her with wide eyes. Cat nodded, sitting back down at her desk and waving her away as she picked up a pen and started marking up the article open in front of her. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Kara gaped at her before a shining smile stretched across her face, though her effort to conceal it was clearly visible.

Kara spun and picked up the canvas, shuffling back out to her desk, and Cat slowly put her pen down as she looked at it for a moment before carefully hefting it up and starting to move to where it would soon be hanging on the wall.


End file.
